Types Of Life Insurance
Life insurance protection comes in many forms, and not all policies are created equal, as you will soon discover. While the death benefit amounts may be the same, the costs, structure, durations, etc. vary tremendously across the types of policies. Whole life insurance provides guaranteed insurance protection for the entire life of the insured, otherwise known as permanent coverage. These policies carry a "cash value" component that grows tax deferred at a contractually guaranteed amount (usually a low interest rate) until the contract is surrendered. The premiums are usually level for the life of the insured and the death benefit is guaranteed for the insured's lifetime.
With whole life payments, part of your premium is applied toward the insurance portion of your policy, another part of your premium goes toward administrative expenses and the balance of your premium goes toward the investment, or cash, portion of your policy.
Universal Life
Universal life insurance, also known as flexible premium or adjustable life, is a variation of whole life insurance. Like whole life, it is also a permanent policy providing cash value benefits based on current interest rates. The feature that distinguishes this policy from its whole life cousin is that the premiums, cash values and level amount of protection can each be adjusted up or down during the contract term as the insured's needs change. Cash values earn an interest rate that is set periodically by the insurance company and is generally guaranteed not to drop below a certain level.
The general account is the reserve or liability account of the insurance provider, and is not allocated to the individual policy. The separate account is comprised of various investment funds within the insurance company's portfolio, such as an equity fund, a money market fund, a bond fund, or some combination of these. Because of this underlying investment feature, the value of the cash and death benefit may fluctuate, thus the name "variable life".
Variable Universal Life
Variable universal life insurance combines the features of universal life with variable life and gives the consumer the flexibility of adjusting premiums, death benefits and the selection of investment choices. These policies are technically classified as securities and are therefore subject to Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regulation and the oversight of the state insurance commissioner. Unfortunately, all the investment risk lies with the policy owner; as a result, the death benefit value may rise or fall depending on the success of the policy's underlying investments. However, policies may provide some type of guarantee that at least a minimum death benefit will be paid to beneficiaries.
Term Life
One of the most commonly used policies is term life insurance. Term insurance can help protect your beneficiaries against financial loss resulting from your death; it pays the face amount of the policy, but only provides protection for a definite, but limited, amount of time. Term policies do not build cash values and the maximum term period is usually 30 years. Term policies are useful when there is a limited time needed for protection and when the dollars available for coverage are limited. The premiums for these types of policies are significantly lower than the costs for whole life. They also (initially) provide more insurance protection per dollar spent than any form of permanent policies. Unfortunately, the cost of premiums increases as the policy owner gets older and as the end of the specified term nears.
Term polices can have some variations, including, but not limited to:
Variable Life
Variable life insurance is designed to combine the traditional protection and savings features of whole life insurance with the growth potential of investment funds. This type of policy is comprised of two distinct components: the general account and the separate account.
Variable life insurance is designed to combine the traditional protection and savings features of whole life insurance with the growth potential of investment funds. This type of policy is comprised of two distinct components: the general account and the separate account.
Annual Renewable and Convertible Term:
This policy provides protection for one year, but allows the insured to renew the policy for successive periods thereafter, but at higher premiums without having to furnish evidence of insurability. These policies may also be converted into whole life policies without any additional underwriting.
Level Term:
This policy has an initial guaranteed premium level for specified periods; the longer the guarantee, the greater the cost to the buyer (but usually still far more affordable than permanent policies). These policies may be renewed after the guarantee period, but the premiums do increase as the insured gets older.
Decreasing Term:
This policy has a level premium, but the amount of the death benefit decreases with time. This is often used in conjunction with mortgage debt protection.
Many term life insurance policies have major features that provide additional flexibility for the insured/policyholder. A renewability feature, perhaps the most important feature associated with term policies, guarantees that the insured can renew the policy for a limited number of years (ie. a term between 5 and 30 years) based on attained age. Convertibility provisions permit the policy owner to exchange a term contract for permanent coverage within a specific time frame without providing additional evidence of insurability.
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